Chapter 2 – Naomi Wildman’s reflections of her life since her mother’s death ‘till the time she is captured by the Borg.

In the days surrounding my mother’s funeral, I was a walking zombie; I had become withdrawn from everyone. I was angry with Seven for not coming to save my mother in time. I was angry with Captain Janeway for stalling a rescue attempt in order to attempt a diplomatic solution. But in time I knew it was not Seven’s fault; she even went against Captain Janeway and planned a rescue attempt by hacking in to the Praymor Order mainframe and finding where we where located. Seven had stolen a phaser and a shuttlecraft and flew the shuttle into transporter range to the asteroid that we were being held on.

Once on the asteroid Seven had reprogrammed her Nano Probes and injected them into the asteroid’s computer system. The riot guns had come online and started shooting at all the guards, allowing Seven to easily rescue me and my dead mother’s body.

Once I let my anger go I became much closer to Seven, and I made a new resolution for myself. I would become more like Seven; well educated, strong and powerful. I would never allow my self to be weak or powerless again. I threw myself into my lessons with Seven and the ones I was able to talk the Doctor into giving me. I was able to start researching Nano Probes and Bio-Implants. Nano Probes were what I saw as the next step in my resolution of being more like Seven.

It ended up taking me over a year and a half of research and development to be able to create a safe and nearly undetectable Nano Probe. These Nano Probes matched my DNA which meant they would be able to coexist with my body without rejection. I also made it so that any implant made by my Nano Probes would also be nearly undetectable and my body would not reject them. I also found a better way for my Nano Probes to form new implants. Instead of having the Nano Probes create a stand alone device/Bio-Implant, the implants were made of and operated by trillions of Nano Probes, therefore being able to manufacture smaller and more efficient Bio-Implants.

Once I started to give myself Nano ejections the only visible side effect was that I needed to eat more food so that my body and Nano Probes would have the needed energy to function properly. The Nano Probes could break down food and turn it into energy. Over the course of three months I developed a Cortical Node that improved my brain activity, a Nano Shield Generator and finally a hidden (would blend in with my vain in my right hand) tubule that allowed me to eject my own Nano Probes or interface with a computer through my mind via my Cortical Node.

No one found out what I’d done for almost a whole year. It was an attack on Voyager that caused me to be caught. When a power relay blew up near me I was hurt pretty badly and taken to sick bay. When I was being treated the Doctor noticed I was healing too quickly. My body normally would not have that kind of healing capability. So the doctor started to investigate and as the Doctor had a lot of knowledge about Nano Probes thanks to weekly treatments with Seven of Nine it was one of the first things he looked for. My probes where designed to stay hidden from normal scanners, but if you where specifically looking for them you would find them.

The Doctor, Neelix and Captain Janeway where very unhappy with me to say the least. Seven on the other hand had no problem with my experiments, saying “your designs are very efficient.” Seven was always one for self-improvement. For about a week the senior staff of Voyager debated whether they would force me to have my Nano Probes removed. Thanks partly to the Doctor not finding anything that could harm me and him being a believer that anything that makes the body healthier and more resistant should be left alone I was able to keep the Probes and the bio-implants. But my punishment was the loss of my position as Captain’s Assistant, loss of my computer access level, which was high for someone of my age, and I was to clean the plasma manifolds for the next six months, which was not my favorite duty.

Over time I slowly regained the trust of the crew of Voyager and regained my privileges. I was even allowed to make upgrades to my implants under supervision from Seven and the Doctor. The upgrades I made to my Bio-Implants where to make them more efficient and making some adjustments that would make my Nano Probes safer for me to have in my body.

Two years after I had been caught with my implants, Neelix my godfather left the ship and me. I could understand why he wanted to be with his own people, but still it hurt. I would never get to see him again. Now I only had Seven of Nine left, who was something of a cross of an older sister and a mentor. Seven always made time for me, even though she was taking care of the four Borg children. I always preferred to spend time with adults. I hated being around kids my supposed age, they always seemed so immature. The Borg children I do admit I grew to like. They where intelligent but unlike me they wanted to be children.

The day we made it back to earth via a Borg Transwarp Hub was a memorable day for the crew of Voyager, but a feeling of dread came over me. Voyager was my home, my life; it was a part of me as I was of it. My memories of my mother were here; I remembered the times we laughed, we sang and played, the times we cried and held each other when we were in pain. When I lay in my bed in the quarters that mother and I shared I could almost hear her speaking to me, reassuring me. Now I would have to leave it. I feared that I would never get to see the ship that had become my home again. I also feared it might be made into a museum, where strange people could be crawling threw the ship, my home, my life.

I soon found out that my remaining family, including my father, where killed in the Dominion War. Things only went down hill from there. Seven and I were ordered to remain at Starfleet Headquarters so that Federation scientists could study us. I felt like a lab rat; I was not allowed to leave the area around Star Fleet Command. Each day lots of tests where preformed on me; I hated it. I was a creature of space, my backyard was the stars. It seemed I would never get to see them again.

Things became even worst when six security officers came to my quarters with phasers drawn and pointed at me. I could see fear in there eyes; they feared me greatly, as if I was the Borg Queen herself. One of the officers stepped forward. He was a Lieutenant and said, “Naomi Wildman you are under arrest. You are being held under the new Borg Security Act. If you resist we will fire on you with deadly force.”

I knew that my implants would not protect me from six different phasers set most likely on different frequencies. So I followed the Lieutenant and the other five security officers surrounded me and I was lead to a special holding cell. There was no force field at the entrance to the cell, which was a smart idea because I could adapt to the shield and simply walk threw it. Instead the cell door was made of metal and the lock was not computerized, instead the lock was a simple metal bar that slid into slots on each side of the door. The Lieutenant opened the cell door up and another officer pushed me inside the cell. SLAM… the door shut with a bang. I looked around the small cell, only seeing a small cot and a place to wash and relieve myself. Oh how I longed to see the stars again.

Since the death of my mother I had learned not to hate. But now I started to hate again. I hated Earth, I hated the Federation, I hated being used and I hated being restrained. The Federation was just like most other races I seen on Voyager, fearful and spiteful. Through my cortical node I could contact Seven of Nine on a limited basis. Seven was also locked up in a cell like mine. No one ever came into my cell; food and water was beamed in and out. When they wanted to interrogate me they would use the cell’s internal sensor/communication system to ask me questions like if I knew anything about or if I could stop the spread of the Borg virus. Apparently the virus would slowly assimilate you into a Borg drone. The virus was spreading in a few spots around Earth, which of course until now I had no knowledge of.

About two months later the newly promoted Admiral Janeway opened the door to my cell. I must have been a terrible looking sight because Janeway flinched away for a second, then I could see anger crossed her face but I knew it was not directed at me. After a minute Janeway greeted me and led me out of the cell and to a bathroom where it took me twenty minutes to get cleaned up and changed in to the clothes Janeway had given me. Then I looked into the mirror and saw that my hair had grown a great deal, about down to the small of my back. I asked Janeway if she be willing to help me trim my hair to make it even.

Once Janeway finished up with my hair she escorted me out of Starfleet Command and we took a transport to her house. There I was to spend 3 days at Janeway’s place until an older class C shuttle could be made ready for me. Janeway had pulled some strings to get me out of jail and soon, Seven would be released too. But to my dismay I had to leave Federation space. Janeway told me that both that she and Seven of Nine were going to try and unravel what was behind the Borg virus. I begged to be allowed to help her and Seven but Janeway said “If you’re not off the planet within a week, Starfleet could lock you up again.”

The last time I ever got to see Seven alive was when I was being escorted to my shuttle to leave the planet. I hugged both Janeway and Seven and said a tearful goodbye. Then I was beamed abort a small shuttle. The shuttle had been upgraded a bit with a small Replicator and a place to sleep (a bunk bed). I went and sat down at the controls and checked the computer system and found that the shuttle was warp eight capable but the standard traveling speed was only warp seven point two.

I started to go through the computer navigation files, looking for where I should head off too. After about twenty minutes I decided I would head off to the Beta Quadrant. My shuttle had already been taken out into open space so all I had to do was lay in a course at the helm and few seconds later I was at warp. I didn’t know where my life might lead me too, but at least I was free and back amongst the stars. I went to the back of the ship and turned on the computer terminal and started planning to add a few Borg upgrades to my little ship to make it more efficient.

One month and three days later I was firmly in the Beta Quadrant and my sensors had detected a nebula that I could use to help re-power my shuttle. I dropped out of warp and started to beam abort a sample of the nebula's gas when my perimeter alert went off. I quickly ran to the main controls and saw that a small Borg Probe vessel was heading my way. I thought to myself “damn, if I never made those upgrades to my ship the Borg probably would have passed me by.”

I was being hailed. I pressed a few buttons and an image of the inside of the Borg ship came up on screen and I heard, “We are the Borg. Lower your shields. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile!” A tractor beam locked on to my shuttle and I was being pulled inside the Borg Probe. I tried to break free by remodulating the shields, but the Borg fired three shots at me which disabled my shields. At that moment two Borg drones appeared behind me. One of them stuck me in the neck with their tubicles and I fell into a blissful darkness.